According to the manual on the official website, the Day of Silence is:

Founded in 1996 by students at the University of Virginia, and currently officially sponsored in

K-12 schools by GLSEN, the Day of Silence is the largest student-led action to protest the
bullying and harassment of LGBT people and their allies ever. Participants take a day long
vow of silence and distribute or wear speaking cards with information about anti-LGBT bias
and ways for students and others to “end the silence.” Through Breaking the Silence events,
students can speak out against harassment and demand change for their schools and

Criticism

Objections have been raised against this day of "awareness" of homosexuals as a not-so-covert attempt to paint homosexuals as "unjustly persecuted" and as helpless victims of the lifestyle that supporters of homosexuality claim they "did not choose". Having moments set aside in schools to observe this Day of Silence means that all students are effectively forced to accept the purpose of the day and to pay respects to lifestyles they may find immoral. It is a false distinction that students who object or whose parents object can simply "opt-out" by leaving the room during observances; by having their educational time allocated to something else, these students are effectively yielding the remembrance which the Day of Silence solicits. The Day of Silence is a prime example of the homosexual agenda forcing itself upon conservatives under the guise of "fairness and acceptance" in pubic schools. Although some schools may have mandatory observances, at others the day is merely marked by the silence of certain students. Most students who choose to observe the Day of Silence will have a written note of some kind to hand to instructors explaining why they are choosing to remain silent on that day.